


baby don't hurt me

by crusdrabbles



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Undefined AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-08 01:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19861480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crusdrabbles/pseuds/crusdrabbles
Summary: “But that’s the problem.” “Romance?” “The over-romanticization of love.”





	baby don't hurt me

Sora laughs, bright and disarming, dancing through the open door of the party to lean heavily next to Riku on the balcony rail. The night air is cold, last vestiges of winter holding on tight. Sora shifts closer for warmth after a few quiet moments and a shiver that begs to be held.

“Hey Riku,” he starts, and bumps his head against a shoulder. He’s warm and soft and fits wonderfully against Riku’s side. “Check it out.”

And Riku looks down through tree tops into the park to find a young couple sitting on the edge of a fountain, kissing deeply as though there wasn’t a whole world to see them. They’re framed like a painting - angels pour babbling water behind them under a dim halo of lamplight. A suitcase sits beside one partner, flowers rest in their lap. Sora sighs dreamily, the beer can in his hand hangs dangerously over the railing.

“They’re in love. How sweet.”

Riku feels his lips turn down minutely, and Sora catches the disapproval before he can hide it behind the deep red of his wine.

“What’s that for?” he snorts, amused.

“I just,” Riku hums, tipsiness making him loose lipped despite his conscience begging him to shut his mouth, “think it’s silly.”

“What’s silly?” Sora asks - head tilted, face so open and willing to understand.

“Love.” Riku says, and means more but can’t find the words to explain. “Them.” Sora frowns.

“What’s silly about love?” He asks; his voice cracks, like it’s found itself on tightrope or on the precipice of a cliff.

“A lot of things.” Riku’s lips betray him. “They look like they’re in a movie.”

“So? It’s romantic.”

“But that’s the problem.”

“Romance?”

“The over-romanticization of love.”

Sora’s eye roll turns into a full body gesture of petulance that sends his beer sloshing. He groans his dissatisfaction loudly and Riku hadn’t really expected such a display at all.

“That’s stupid. You’re stupid.” Sora says, too tipsy to sound playful or smile through his apparent insult. Riku opens his mouth to say something, only to find Sora’s retreating back. “Let me know when you’re not being fucking stupid.” He says, hand tossed in the air as he leaves, and Riku shuts his mouth.

He sips his wine on the balcony, mulling over his thoughts with the low hum of voices and warm light wafting through the open door. Sora ignores him when he leaves the party early.

\---

“‘The over-romanticization of love.’” Sora seethes in their apartment. “What a load of crap.” To be honest, Riku is dismayed. He hadn’t expected a little wine and honest philosophy to cause him so many problems with his best friend.

“Come on, So-ra.” He soothes, Sora’s terseness failing to dissuade him from a ruffle of his hair. "It’s a bit cheap, is all.”

“Cheap.” Sora smacks his hand away and Riku tries to remind himself that he had invited the sting.

“All of the…” Riku breaks off with a vague gesture of the hands, floundering still two days in. “All of the movie stuff. The eyes and the grand gestures and ‘falling head over heels.’”

“The romance.” Sora sums up with a sarcastic lilt, and Riku fumbles.

“I just don’t think we think about love the right way.”

“Well what do you think it is then?”

Riku searches for an answer a few seconds too long. Sora huffs and pushes away from the kitchen island.

“I have work.” He announces and leaves.

\---

Sora can only ever ignore him for a day at a time, but when Riku opens his door with popcorn (lightly salted, just like he likes) Sora pauses his movie only long enough to pout.

“What are you watching?” Riku asks and sets the offering at the foot of Sora’s bed.

“Something stupid.” Sora sneers. His eyes glitter in the light from the screen, so Riku leaves him be.

The popcorn bowl returns to the kitchen empty anyway.

Riku thinks he finally gets it.

\---

“It’s a choice.” He says out of the blue three weeks later, and Sora blinks at him around a carton of milk.

“...Skim or whole?” He hazards, wiping away the white film mustache; argument long forgotten.

“Love.” Riku says and Sora’s expression sours at the recollection.

“Oh lord.” He groans, thrusting the carton back into the waiting door of the fridge. He moves past Riku - not leaving, just seeking the pantry - but Riku snags his wrist. Sora blinks and freezes. Riku’s heart pounds an uneasy rhythm in his chest.

“It’s a choice.” He repeats, licking his lips as though some liquid courage from the wine three weeks ago might linger there and save him. “Love isn’t some overpowering feeling that makes people sing and dance. Feelings are temporary, they fade. Love is a choice you have to make and keep making.”

Sora’s eyes are wide, his breath shallow - wrist limp in Riku’s hand. “Okay…” he says quietly and doesn’t pull his hand away.

Riku licks his lips.

“I choose you. Every day.” He says in a whisper, shy and scared, and Sora’s pulse stutters against his palm. It gives him more courage than the wine. “But I think it got lost in translation.”

“So what are you trying to say?” Sora asks. He leans forward, as though straining to hear between Riku’s lines.

So Riku says, “I love you. I have loved you. Every single day.”

\---

Riku sits on a fountain, flowers rest in his lap. Angels pour babbling streams of water behind him, soft white petals float through the spring air. It’s midday and Sora isn’t kissing him - he’s too busy seeking the attention of a wayward duck.

Riku looks up to the buildings surrounding the park and smiles; he lifts a hand to bump Sora’s shoulder.

“Hey Sora,” He says, and Sora turns to focus on him instead. “Check it out.”

Sora turns up to a different balcony, from a different park, where a not-couple is arguing mildly over a can of beer and a glass of wine. As they watch, one throws a hand up and steps away, but the other reaches out - pulls them back. A look passes between them, a choice to reconcile over a meaningless spat.

Sora laughs.

“How sweet. They’re in love.”

“They’re in love.” Riku repeats, and kisses Sora’s cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> My friends bullied me into posting this here.


End file.
